by Ava Moreau
There was no way to convince Trent that they had to go their separate ways, but Jack wasn’t about to let Trent sacrifice his future for him. Jack wasn’t worth that.
He didn’t know whether Trent was right about Becca. Would the relationship work without Jack? Surely it would. It would hurt, though. Yeah, it was like stabbing himself in the back to voluntarily give Becca and Trent up like this. He knew he’d regret it every day of his life.
There was no other choice, though. Becca and Trent were city mice, while Jack was just a country mouse. He had no place up there.
He paid the check for their uneaten breakfast, and thought about when to break the news to them that he was staying.
Not yet. Obviously. He would wait until Trent had taken the job. He had to wait that long, so that everything was set in motion. Then he would do the only noble, good thing he could do, and let them go.
20
U big guys want 2 help me pack?”
When Trent saw the text, he almost sighed with relief. After that breakfast, he’d felt shaken up. First Becca had stalked off, lost in her own problems, and then Jack had started up again with his ridiculous self-deprecation.
How could the biggest, strongest guy in town be so uncertain about himself? It had never made any sense to Trent, but he knew it had been one of those strange bonding parts of their friendship. Jack exuded brash confidence, bordering on arrogance, to the entire world…except during these conversations with Trent.
It made Trent feel like protecting his friend, as much as he’d felt like protecting Becca earlier. And for pretty much the same reason, he couldn’t do it. You couldn’t wrap your arms around Becca and try to keep her safe, because it would offend her sense of independence…and Jack was exactly the same way. You had to let him figure things out for himself.
Trent chuckled. He hadn’t realized how much Jack and Becca had in common. Maybe that’s why Becca had struck an immediate chord with him. That’s why Jack had to come with them to Corinth. They belonged together, all three of them. They fit together in ways none of them could have anticipated. Of course, thinking of the ways they fit together started Trent down another train of thought, but one which was quickly interrupted.
His phone dinged with another message, this one from Jack. “Get Becca’s txt?”
“Yup. Pick me up.”
Sarah’s car was out front, which was disappointing.
“Damn,” said Jack. “She actually wants us to help pack. I thought she meant it figuratively.”
“I guess there will be neither hanky nor panky,” said Trent, feeling just as bummed as Jack. After the emotional morning, he had hoped they could all strip down again and work out their feelings the old-fashioned way.
But nope. It was going to be all business.
“Oh, look, they’re finally here,” said Sarah from the front porch. “You’ll never guess: Becca actually went through her stuff.”
Becca was with her, of course, looking far less troubled than she had earlier. Unless you looked at her eyes. The trouble was still there, hidden away from her sister. “I’m pretty industrious when I set my mind to it.”
“See, you could’ve had it done yesterday, if you hadn’t gone and spilled all that coffee,” said Sarah. “Well, boys, come on in, there’s hauling to do.”
While Sarah walked upstairs, Trent touched Becca’s arm. “Is everything all right?”
She looked up at him with her big eyes. “We can talk more about it later. But for now, yeah, it’s as all right as it’s going to get.”
His heart broke for her, because she was obviously still in pain. Jack sensed it too, and came up beside her. Trent realized the two of them were flanking her like bodyguards. Like they could block out the rest of the world so it wouldn’t touch her.
Trent slid his arm around her waist, and pulled her closer. “You know we would do anything for you,” he whispered to her. “Whatever’s going on, we can fix it.”
She gazed at both of them, then bit her full lower lip and nodded. “I know. I’m hoping so. God, I’m so ridiculous! We should just finish hauling all this stuff, it’ll get my mind off things.”
Her hand was on Trent’s chest, and her touch inflamed him, made him want to take her right there on the porch. Let the whole world see who her lovers were, who her protectors were.
It was a need so primal he had to fight it down. The need to shield her and the need to make love to her, how were the two needs so tangled up together? But they were, in a way that could not be denied. She felt it too, the way their closeness held both meanings, safety and lust, and she tilted her head and pressed her lips against his.
The danger of being caught only made him more excited; he could feel himself hardening immediately. He kissed her back, listening to her soft moan as her lips parted. Her nipples pressed against her shirt, signaling her desire for him.
He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t fight the urge down. He slipped his hand down into her jeans, finding her slit, discovering just how ready she was for him, her wetness greeting his eager fingers. She gasped and pressed herself against his hand.
“Um…guys?” said Jack gruffly.
Trent looked up. His best friend was glowering.
“I’m glad you two are having fun,” said Jack, “but we need to get upstairs.”
Becca broke away from Trent and stood with her chest pressed against Jack. “You want to carry me upstairs? Want to throw me on the bed, do you?”
Jack smiled bashfully. He was already sporting a hard-on as well. Yeah, they were all thinking the exact same thing.
“I sure as hell do,” he said, “after we get everything done here.”
“There’s nothing sexier than practicality,” Becca said ruefully. She patted both of them on the cheek and headed upstairs, making sure to put a little more wiggle into her ass than was strictly necessary.
Honestly, it was good to be moving around. A little like being at the gym, lifting these heavy crates. Get your muscles moving, turn your brain off, it’s like having a cloudy sky suddenly clear. He could tell Jack felt the same way; that tension from earlier was gone from his face, as they competed to see who could carry the most boxes down at one time.
Sarah was directing traffic, but there were plenty of moments when she wasn’t in sight, and in those moments, they sneaked Becca more kisses and touches. Not too many; neither of them wanted to sport big hard-ons while Becca’s sister was here. Although the sense of being forbidden kept occurring to Trent, and he could feel his desire for Becca growing every second that he wasn’t allowed to have her. She was basking in the danger of it; she’d already reached into both their jeans to give their cocks a friendly squeeze, several times, and at least once had flashed her tits at them.
Come on, let’s get this hauling done, thought Trent.
But Sarah being there definitely put a damper on things. She was looking around Becca’s room. Even with boxing things up, there was still a sense of disarray in the room.
“I would think a businesswoman would be a little more organized about things,” she said.
Becca frowned at her sister, while shoving a stack of old school papers into a box marked Definitely Throw Away. “I’m not the one who decided to use the room as ground zero for a hoarding obsession. Ninety percent of this stuff isn’t even mine. Besides, my business doesn’t really have a lot to do with how Mom organizes her sewing patterns and cookbooks.”
Sarah laughed, looking at the box marked Cookbooks - Maybe Throw Away? “Okay, granted. But I don’t even know what you do for a living. What is this business you’ve started up?”
Trent glanced up at Becca. It’s funny, but he didn’t know that either. Was that strange, feeling as close to someone as he did with Becca, but not knowing some of these basic facts of her life? He noticed Jack was interested too.
“God, work is the last thing I want to talk about right now,” Becca said. “I had a little falling-out with my business partner today.”
&nbs
p; “Over what?” asked Sarah. Unlike the guys, Sarah didn’t care if Becca wanted some space or not, she was just going to barge in and ask questions.
But Becca shook her head. “Minor stuff. It doesn’t matter. But since you ask, my business is about ERDRA compliance.”
“Errr what?” said Sarah.
“Oh god, don’t make me explain,” said Becca. “Everyone on earth thinks it’s boring except for me.”
“ERDRA,” said Trent. “It’s a state law mandating standards for employee timekeeping systems.”
Becca looked shocked. “Holy shit, Trent. You know about it?”
“Well, yeah, it was one of the things we studied in my business administration classes, it’s really cool.” He turned to Sarah. “See, for the longest time there was no standardization for how employers measured employee time, other than Labor Department guidelines, but when the state passed this act—”
“Oh god, I think I went into a coma just listening to this,” said Jack.
“I’m there with you, big guy,” said Sarah.
But Becca looked at Trent with a new light of respect in her eyes, and Trent felt himself swelling up with pride.
“It doesn’t affect you,” Becca said to Sarah, “because you have fewer than fifteen employees at the florist. But let me tell you, companies up in Corinth are freaked out about it. They need consultants to explain to them how the law works, and how they can get compliant…and I’m that consultant. Or would be, if I could get my foot in the door.”
“That is incredible,” said Trent. “I had no idea that’s what you were doing. This is like the Y2K of employee timekeeping systems. You’re going to rake in the cash.”
Becca gave him a lopsided smile. “That’s the dream, anyway.”
“I don’t see how there could be any money in something so boring,” said Sarah. “But clearly you and Trent find it fascinating. You two ought to get nerd-married.”
Becca and Trent both laughed…but Trent noticed Jack didn’t join in. He saw his friend stiffen.
Come on, Jack, Trent thought, please don’t be jealous. Don’t you know how I feel about you? Haven’t I made that clear enough?
But Jack’s face was clouded as they moved the rest of the stuff down to the truck, and he wouldn’t talk about anything at all. Not even his usual jokes.
This all started out so promisingly. What is going wrong between us?
21
Hey, at least Sarah didn’t demand to ride with us in the truck,” said Becca. But neither of the guys smiled or laughed or anything.
Not that a drive to the dump was anything spectacular, but she would’ve expected some reaction from them.
She wondered if she had been wrong to walk off after her talk with Kaylee. It was so typical of her, that whole idea of keeping people at arms length when she had to think. But they’d been enjoying a happy breakfast together…maybe it was wrong to suddenly switch gears and be all aloof.
How did other people manage that? She didn’t want to seem weak in front of the guys. They were so strong in so many ways. She could sense them wanting to protect her—and deep down, some part of her did want to be protected, wanted the valiant white knights to come to her rescue—but getting in a fight with Kaylee over the shape of her future, that was just something she had to handle herself.
Besides, they’d seemed okay with things, because they’d definitely had their hands all over her while packing the truck. Out there on the porch, when Trent had been stroking her pussy, she thought she might have to rip everybody’s clothes off and go at them right there.
Had she said something wrong back at the house?
“All right,” she said. “Somebody better tell me what’s wrong, because I can’t figure it out.”
Trent glanced over at Jack.
Aha. That was a clue.
She’d thought Jack seemed a little reserved when she had described her business, and Trent had been excited about it. She’d been so happy to find out that Trent knew all about it, that it hadn’t occurred to her that Jack might feel left out by it.
She reached down and stroked his thigh, running her fingertips over the soft denim of his jeans. As she went up his inseam, she could feel the bulge there, as his cock responded. That’s right. You like me, you’re just not willing to talk about your big feelings.
“Since no one is answering, I’ll tell you my theory,” she said, her hand now cupping Jack’s balls. If she looked very closely, she could see the beginnings of a smile flicker around the edges of Jack’s lips. “All that hauling worked up some testosterone, didn’t it? You were carrying boxes, but you really wanted to carry yours truly around, taking turns doing me standing up? Am I close?”
She gave Jack a squeeze, and he shifted in the truck seat. Finally he nodded.
“Yeah. That’s close. Except…shit. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to ruin whatever little time we’ve got left. All right? Can’t we just enjoy it?”
Trent sighed. “Are you really back to that?” he asked his friend. “I thought we’d worked that out back at the diner.”
“What’d you work out?” she asked, genuinely curious what had gone on between them while she wasn’t there.
I know what I’d like to go on between them while I’m not there…but I doubt they were sucking each other off at the diner.
Damn, what was happening to her? She used to be able to go days and days without thinking much about sex, but here it was, probably ten hours since she’d last had sex, and she felt like she had to have it right away or go crazy.
“I’m taking the job,” said Trent, “and Jack is coming with us back to Corinth, so we can all be together.”
Just hearing it made her wet. It was all she could do not to make Jack stop the truck right this second, so she could climb into his lap and slide his cock inside her.
“That’s so exciting!” she said. “Oh, god, it’s such a relief too. I’ve been dreading the idea of leaving. Even though I am so ready to get back home, back to the city…and to get back to work! Which I know sounds awful, but guys, I love it so much, and I missed it. Besides, the sooner I go back, the quicker I can mend things with Kaylee, because we never fight, and I hate that she thinks I’m just lollygagging down here while she does all the work.”
Then Jack smiled, though he was still watching the road. “Lollygagging. That sounds like what Trent was doing with my cock last night.”
They all laughed, and the atmosphere was finally back to normal, which she was grateful for…except…
Except something’s up with Jack. He’s trying really hard not to show it. Trent doesn’t notice it. Trent’s just so relieved everything is going well, that he doesn’t notice Jack is in pain. Damn it! Why won’t he talk about it, so I know what’s going on?
There was nothing she could do about it, if he was going to play the Strong Silent Guy role. All she could do was go along with it, and hope that he opened up soon, so she could help him with whatever was on his mind.
Emptying the truck didn’t take long, but the minute the last box was tossed into a dumpster, she felt a weight lifted off of her. It was so sudden, she had to grab Jack’s arm to steady herself.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No, yeah, I just… Sarah has been asking me to do this for months. Like, long before my parents decided to move out. And now it’s finally done and over with…and it wasn’t that bad? But it was just hanging over me for the longest time, and she was so mad about it. But now I’m free of it. Which means…I’m free of Myers Lake.”
Jack’s face clouded, but he wrapped her in a hug. “I’m glad you feel better,” he said. “No more strings pulling you back here.”
“I mean, I’m sure I’ll still visit, once things settle down with work. But there’s a big difference between visiting because you want to, and visiting because you feel all this guilt.”
He nodded. “So, now that you’re out of packing-jail, what’ll you do with your freedom?”
> She put her hands around the small of his back and pulled herself even closer to him. “What am I going to do? Or who? Or…whom?”
They got back into the truck, only this time, she slid out of her pants once she was inside. As Jack drove, he had one hand on the wheel, the other between her legs. She sighed happily as he spread her lips, and his fingertip found its way inside her. “You don’t know how much I’ve been wanting this all day,” she said. “I missed my two big men.”
Trent was brushing his fingers down the back of her neck, which made her shudder. Her nipples were already rock-hard at the touches she was receiving from the men, but she knew touches alone weren’t going to do it for her.
Last night, just before she’d drifted off to sleep, she’d imagined something she wanted to do with them. Something she’d only seen in videos, the sort of thing you didn’t talk about with anyone. Certainly not something she could talk over with Kaylee, say, to ask if it was a ridiculous idea.
She wanted them both. Inside her. At the same time.
Just thinking about it made her rock against Jack’s hand, trapping his fingers inside her wetness, imagining what it must be like to take two huge cocks at once. Honestly it scared her. She wanted it…both for herself, and because she knew the guys needed it too. She still couldn’t tell what was going on with Jack, couldn’t think her way through what was on his mind, but the only way to really reach a man like that was to give yourself entirely to him, so he knew he was safe opening up to you.
But also it was a reward to Trent. She was so excited that he’d decided to take the plunge, to get the job in Corinth. In a lot of ways, he’d been the sticking point. If he had decided to stay in Myers Lake, she knew she’d be totally on her own when she went back to the city. But if he was coming, then Jack would come, and then the three of them could face the world together.
“I better pull over,” said Jack.
His words brought her back to the present, to the way she was rubbing herself on him, to the way Trent was cupping her tits in his hands, easing her out of her shirt. In moments she was simply naked between them in the cramped truck cabin.
